Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Most of the time, I feel like the pursuit of my MFA in Creative Writing was nothing more than an indulgence. A hollow activity that became anti-climatic the minute I had achieved it. Don't get me wrong, I know that sounds so #firstworldproblems. I honestly appreciate the fact that I was able to attend graduate school, and that I worked like hell to finish a degree, but it was certainly one of those instances where you realize the journey was more important than the ultimate destination. The anti-climatic-ness of the whole thing left me wanting. So I almost immediately enrolled in another Masters program. A glutton for punishment. A glutton for knowledge. A glutton for something akin to validation. I felt like the MFA was too easy. Like I didn't suffer enough to get it (forget the twenty plus years it took me to get my BA and then the MFA). Like I didn't deserve it. Like it didn't matter.

Fast forward three years. I have done nothing with my MFA. I really haven't even written much of anything other than occasional blog posts. I've signed up for two poetry workshops and haven't written anything. I have attended exactly one reading (last month), but other than that I have been completely enmeshed in anything *but* the poetry community. So when I came across an email with the subject line of "Poet Wanted" yesterday morning, my eyes saw it, but my brain really didn't register it. And then it did. It was an email to the general "arts community" of Tacoma. I subscribe to the list, so the email popped up into my inbox. Intriguing to say the least.

I quickly replied to the email, unsure of what the initiator wanted. He is a photographer, that much I already knew. But in a little bit of correspondence yesterday, I discovered that he wants to collaborate with a poet, for a book that would contain poetry and photos. How perfect is that? While I'm not sure that the "theme" is exactly up my alley, I could sooo make it work. And just the excitement I got in thinking about it, told me that it was an opportunity I needed to pursue. So I might. Depending on the timeline and what he wants, and if he finds me suitable for his needs, it might be something workable. And that is exciting. That has caused my poetry blood to course just a bit. We will see what happens. And if it doesn't work out, at least it got me thinking, inspired and re-ignited. And that is always a good thing.

Monday, February 16, 2015

This week, I stayed pretty true to the sketch. Sometimes, I go a bit off-track, but this was straightforward. I guess I ended up with journaling that is kind of difficult to read, so I might change that, but it is what it is for now.

Monday, January 26, 2015

This week's challenge/sketch is all about the hexagons. Such a fun sketch. I didn't have two pics to go with the kit I'd chosen, so I just decided to use one of the journal cards. I'm so in love with the colors of the Be Bold kit by Amanda Yi & Studio Flergs. You can find the kit and journal cards over at The Digital Press.
I can see using this kit over and over. I only wish I had more girly pictures to scrap.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

So a lot has happened in the past few weeks. Tim broke his ankle right before Christmas. He's still in a cast and can't walk on it, so he's getting around either on crutches or a scooter. So no help at all around the house. LOL. Lots of resting and football watching for him. :) He's also working from home, so it is a challenge to get any computer time. Not to mention that my computer seems to be on its last legs. I am so hopeful that I will be able to get a new one soon. This one just has fits and starts and it will freeze up for ten to fifteen minutes at a time and not do anything. There is no sound, and nothing works during those times. Soooo frustrating. I really wanted to do The Lilypad's Month of Challenges that I did (and completed) last year, but this old battleaxe computer isn't playing nice and I don't think there is a mathematical way to complete them all at this point. I've done a few, but not enough to get me through to the end. Not with the schedule that we've had lately.

Last week was Kennedy's birthday. He turned five. Breaks my heart that he's not my little guy anymore. He's changing so much. We went out for dinner on his birthday. My grandma also came over earlier in the day. Then we had a birthday party for him on Sunday. The Seahawks' playoff game was at the same time, so the adults were all watching that on pins and needles. I said that I wasn't giving up hope, but thought it might take a miracle for them to win. And they did it. They miraculously overcame the big deficit to win the game. So totally amazing to watch.

Tonight is a Bad Poetry event at The Nearsighted Narwhal. Originally, it was slated to be bad cat poetry, so I'm planning to go and read some of my old LOL Cat poems. Should be fun.

Tomorrow night, Carla Sonheim and Lynn Whipple are hosting an open house sort of event in Seattle, so those of us who are able can come by and meet them. I'm so totally excited about that. :) I'm in their Year of the Spark class, so it is a cool opportunity.

Jessica leaves for Las Vegas early Sunday morning. That should be fun for her. I hope she has fun and feels relaxed and can come home and be ready to get back to a normal life. Things have been rough the past couple of months.

Sunday we go to see The Great Gatsby at Tacoma Little Theatre. Should be interesting.

And here are a couple of the pages I did earlier to try to keep up with this year's project life and to go back and also do the previous years.

Saturday, January 03, 2015

So I have been working fast and furiously on trying to catch up with my Project Life for 2013. I had two Shutterfly book credits that were about to expire, so I wanted to get at least half of the year done and printed. That meant I had to crack-a-lack on getting the weird random weeks done that I had left hanging out there. Easier said than done, but I have the first 26 weeks of 2013 done and printed. There are far less embellishments on these pages, but that is fine with me. I got them done. Whew. The books should be arriving soon, and I'm excited to see them in print. Now I have sixteen weeks of 2013 left and nearly all of 2014. LOL. Oh well, it will just always be a work-in-progress for me, and that is fine.

I am going to start on my first page for 2015 this weekend (fingers crossed) and then see what calls to me to be done.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

It is nearly time to say goodbye to MSA. It is sad, for sure, but when I started looking at goodbyes, I came to realize that at least this wasn’t a totally negative goodbye. It is like a goodbye to a friend who you hate to miss, but they will be in your heart for a long time. I’ve met some wonderful people through MSA, and even though we might not be hanging out in the MSA forums/galleries together, we’re just a short couple of clicks away in digi land!